Solaris 8 install headache 2

[rblue]

Hardware: SparcServer 20 MP, 9GB HDD, 192MB RAM

Problem:
I installed Solaris 8 from CDROM with a 2GB root partition. The install goes fine, I reboot the box and the reboot fails with error: bootblk: can't find the boot program.

Steps to resolve:
Boot to CDROM (boot cdrom -s)
mount hard drive (mount /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0 /mnt)
copy ufsboot from cdrom to hard drive (cp /platform/`uname -i`/ufsboot /mnt/platform/`uname -i`)
checked /etc/vfstab (everythings fine)

Reboot - same error

Someone told me that there is some prep work I need to do on older Solaris boxes before I can install 8, is this true?

I normally wouldn't waste time on this hardware, but it is my test environment for Tivoli so I need it running. Any help is much appreciated.

Rob

 

[lancer73]

have you installed the bootblock?

# installboot /mnt/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0

 

[rblue]

That didn't work either. Could the fact that my swap partition is at the beginning of the disk?

 

[BVSJ]

I had similar problem with Solaris 7. I will never use older hardware to install Solaris 7 or 8 using Installer CD. Boot PROM always look for the boot block in the biggining and when you use installer CD it creates Swap file system starting at 0 block.

Take Solaris 8 software CD 1 of 2 and install the Solaris 8 again from scratch. Select auto boot and then after the boot install the software from 2 of 2 CD when prompted. You will not ask for 2 of 2 if you don't go for Entire distribution or Server installtion.

It had worked for me on Solaris 7 for same issue, so hope it works for you too. I have then always used this method on Solaris 8 and have no issues.

 

[lancer73]

yeah that'd probably be why it's not finding the bootblk. i've got solaris 8 running on my sparc5 with a 2gb disk and i did the full install + EOM, so i'm pretty sure your hardware can handle it. just make sure to put the boot partition at the beginning.

 

[rblue]

Moving the swap partition off the beginning of the disk did the trick. Thanks to both of you.

Rob

 

[kerambit275]

It could also be a revision problem. I ran into a similar issue when I tried to install Solaris 8 10/01 on a Sparc20, starting off with the Install CD, and going through the whole process, and then on reboot, it couldn't find the boot file. I went through whole exact process again, this time with Solaris 8 01/01, and it worked fine.

 

[wfang01]

You can still make it bootable even you have swap on partition 1. Use the command at "OK" prompt:

OK boot disk:b

You can make it permenant by doing this:
OK setenv boot-device disk:b net (default was "disk net&quot